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Liu R, Caciagli A, Yu J, Tang X, Ghosh R, Eiser E. Dynamic Light Scattering Based Microrheology of End-Functionalised Triblock Copolymer Solutions. Polymers (Basel) 2023; 15:polym15030481. [PMID: 36771783 PMCID: PMC9919268 DOI: 10.3390/polym15030481] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Revised: 01/06/2023] [Accepted: 01/16/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Nano-sized particles functionalised with short single-stranded (ss)DNAs can act as detectors of complementary DNA strands. Here we consider tri-block-copolymer-based, self-assembling DNA-coated nanoparticles. The copolymers are chemically linked to the DNA strands via azide (N3) groups. The micelles aggregate when they are linked with complementary ssDNA. The advantage of such block-copolymer-based systems is that they are easy to make. Here we show that DNA functionalisation results in inter-micellar attraction, but that N3-groups that have not reacted with the DNA detector strands also change the phase behaviour of the tri-block polymer solution. We studied the triblock copolymer, Pluronic® F108, which forms spherical micelles in aqueous solutions upon heating. We find that the triblock chains ending with either an N3 or N3-DNA complex show a dramatic change in phase behaviour. In particular, the N3-functionalisation causes the chain ends to cluster below the critical micelle temperature (CMT) of pure F108, forming flower-micelles with the N3-groups at the core, while the PPO groups are exposed to the solvent. Above the CMT, we see an inversion with the PPO chains forming the micellar core, while the N3-groups are now aggregating on the periphery, inducing an attraction between the micelles. Our results demonstrate that, due to the two competing self-assembling mechanisms, the system can form transient hydrogels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ren Liu
- Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
| | - Alessio Caciagli
- Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
| | - Jiaming Yu
- Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
| | - Xiaoying Tang
- Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
| | - Rini Ghosh
- Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
| | - Erika Eiser
- Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
- PoreLab, Department of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +47-92045497
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Caciagli A, Zupkauskas M, Levin A, Knowles TPJ, Mugemana C, Bruns N, O'Neill T, Frith WJ, Eiser E. DNA-Coated Functional Oil Droplets. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2018; 34:10073-10080. [PMID: 30086643 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.8b01828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Many industrial soft materials include oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions at the core of their formulations. By using tuneable interface stabilizing agents, such emulsions can self-assemble into complex structures. DNA has been used for decades as a thermoresponsive, highly specific binding agent between hard and, recently, soft colloids. Up until now, emulsion droplets functionalized with DNA had relatively low coating densities and were expensive to scale up. Here, a general O/W DNA-coating method using functional nonionic amphiphilic block copolymers, both diblock and triblock, is presented. The hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) ends of the surfactants are functionalized with azides, allowing for efficient, dense, and controlled coupling of dibenzocyclooctane-functionalized DNA to the polymers through a strain-promoted alkyne-azide click reaction. The protocol is readily scalable due to the triblock's commercial availability. Different production methods (ultrasonication, microfluidics, and membrane emulsification) are used with different oils (hexadecane and silicone oil) to produce functional droplets in various size ranges (submicron, ∼20 and >50 μm), showcasing the generality of the protocol. Thermoreversible submicron emulsion gels, hierarchical "raspberry" droplets, and controlled droplet release from a flat DNA-coated surface are demonstrated. The emulsion stability and polydispersity is evaluated using dynamic light scattering and optical microscopy. The generality and simplicity of the method opens up new applications in soft matter, biotechnological research, and industrial advances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessio Caciagli
- Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory , University of Cambridge , J. J. Thomson Avenue , Cambridge CB3 0HE , U.K
| | - Mykolas Zupkauskas
- Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory , University of Cambridge , J. J. Thomson Avenue , Cambridge CB3 0HE , U.K
| | - Aviad Levin
- Department of Chemistry , University of Cambridge , Lensfield Road , Cambridge CB2 1EW , U.K
| | - Tuomas P J Knowles
- Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory , University of Cambridge , J. J. Thomson Avenue , Cambridge CB3 0HE , U.K
- Department of Chemistry , University of Cambridge , Lensfield Road , Cambridge CB2 1EW , U.K
| | - Clément Mugemana
- Adolphe Merkle Institute , Chemin des Verdiers 4 , Fribourg CH-1700 , Switzerland
| | - Nico Bruns
- Adolphe Merkle Institute , Chemin des Verdiers 4 , Fribourg CH-1700 , Switzerland
| | - Thomas O'Neill
- Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory , University of Cambridge , J. J. Thomson Avenue , Cambridge CB3 0HE , U.K
| | - William J Frith
- Unilever R&D Colworth , Colworth Science Park , Sharnbrook MK44 1LQ , Bedfordshire , U.K
| | - Erika Eiser
- Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory , University of Cambridge , J. J. Thomson Avenue , Cambridge CB3 0HE , U.K
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Aydin F, Chu X, Uppaladadium G, Devore D, Goyal R, Murthy NS, Zhang Z, Kohn J, Dutt M. Self-Assembly and Critical Aggregation Concentration Measurements of ABA Triblock Copolymers with Varying B Block Types: Model Development, Prediction, and Validation. J Phys Chem B 2016; 120:3666-76. [PMID: 27031284 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.5b12594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
The dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulation technique is a coarse-grained (CG) molecular dynamics-based approach that can effectively capture the hydrodynamics of complex systems while retaining essential information about the structural properties of the molecular species. An advantageous feature of DPD is that it utilizes soft repulsive interactions between the beads, which are CG representation of groups of atoms or molecules. In this study, we used the DPD simulation technique to study the aggregation characteristics of ABA triblock copolymers in aqueous medium. Pluronic polymers (PEG-PPO-PEG) were modeled as two segments of hydrophilic beads and one segment of hydrophobic beads. Tyrosine-derived PEG5K-b-oligo(desaminotyrosyl tyrosine octyl ester-suberate)-b-PEG5K (PEG5K-oligo(DTO-SA)-PEG5K) block copolymers possess alternate rigid and flexible components along the hydrophobic oligo(DTO-SA) chain, and were modeled as two segments of hydrophilic beads and one segment of hydrophobic, alternate soft and hard beads. The formation, structure, and morphology of the initial aggregation of the polymer molecules in aqueous medium were investigated by following the aggregation dynamics. The dimensions of the aggregates predicted by the computational approach were in good agreement with corresponding results from experiments, for the Pluronic and PEG5K-oligo(DTO-SA)-PEG5K block copolymers. In addition, DPD simulations were utilized to determine the critical aggregation concentration (CAC), which was compared with corresponding results from an experimental approach. For Pluronic polymers F68, F88, F108, and F127, the computational results agreed well with experimental measurements of the CAC measurements. For PEG5K-b-oligo(DTO-SA)-b-PEG5K block polymers, the complexity in polymer structure made it difficult to directly determine their CAC values via the CG scheme. Therefore, we determined CAC values of a series of triblock copolymers with 3-8 DTO-SA units using DPD simulations, and used these results to predict the CAC values of triblock copolymers with higher molecular weights by extrapolation. In parallel, a PEG5K-b-oligo(DTO-SA)-b-PEG5K block copolymer was synthesized, and the CAC value was determined experimentally using the pyrene method. The experimental CAC value agreed well with the CAC value predicted by simulation. These results validate our CG models, and demonstrate an avenue to simulate and predict aggregation characteristics of ABA amphiphilic triblock copolymers with complex structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fikret Aydin
- Department of Chemical Engineering and ‡New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , Piscataway 08854, New Jersey, United States
| | - Xiaolei Chu
- Department of Chemical Engineering and ‡New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , Piscataway 08854, New Jersey, United States
| | - Geetartha Uppaladadium
- Department of Chemical Engineering and ‡New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , Piscataway 08854, New Jersey, United States
| | - David Devore
- Department of Chemical Engineering and ‡New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , Piscataway 08854, New Jersey, United States
| | - Ritu Goyal
- Department of Chemical Engineering and ‡New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , Piscataway 08854, New Jersey, United States
| | - N Sanjeeva Murthy
- Department of Chemical Engineering and ‡New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , Piscataway 08854, New Jersey, United States
| | - Zheng Zhang
- Department of Chemical Engineering and ‡New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , Piscataway 08854, New Jersey, United States
| | - Joachim Kohn
- Department of Chemical Engineering and ‡New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , Piscataway 08854, New Jersey, United States
| | - Meenakshi Dutt
- Department of Chemical Engineering and ‡New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , Piscataway 08854, New Jersey, United States
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Li S, Chen J, Xu D, Shi T. Topological constraints of network chains in telechelic associative polymer gels. J Chem Phys 2015; 143:244902. [DOI: 10.1063/1.4938233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Sijia Li
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jilin, Changchun 130022, People’s Republic of China
| | - Jizhong Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jilin, Changchun 130022, People’s Republic of China
| | - Donghua Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jilin, Changchun 130022, People’s Republic of China
| | - Tongfei Shi
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jilin, Changchun 130022, People’s Republic of China
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Chantawansri TL, Sirk TW, Sliozberg YR. Entangled triblock copolymer gel: morphological and mechanical properties. J Chem Phys 2013; 138:024908. [PMID: 23320722 DOI: 10.1063/1.4774373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The morphological and mechanical properties of entangled ABA triblock copolymer gels, where solvent were selective to the midblock, were studied as a function of polymer concentration using a novel dissipative particle dynamics model which includes a modified segmental repulsive potential that restricts chain crossing. Morphological properties, such as micelle size, distance between micelles, and the bridge fraction, were calculated as a function of concentration. Although the micelle size was shown to have a strong dependence on concentration, the bridge fraction and distance between micelles were shown to plateau at moderate concentrations. Deformation under uni-axial tension was also performed to extract the cross-link and entanglement contribution to the elastic modulus. Scaling results qualitatively agree with other theoretical predications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tanya L Chantawansri
- U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21005-5069, USA
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Capone B, Coluzza I, Hansen JP. A systematic coarse-graining strategy for semi-dilute copolymer solutions: from monomers to micelles. JOURNAL OF PHYSICS. CONDENSED MATTER : AN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS JOURNAL 2011; 23:194102. [PMID: 21525560 DOI: 10.1088/0953-8984/23/19/194102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
A systematic coarse-graining procedure is proposed for the description and simulation of AB diblock copolymers in selective solvents. Each block is represented by a small number, n(A) or n(B), of effective segments or blobs, containing a large number of microscopic monomers. n(A) and n(B) are unequivocally determined by imposing that blobs do not, on average, overlap, even if complete copolymer coils interpenetrate (semi-dilute regime). Ultra-soft effective interactions between blobs are determined by a rigorous inversion procedure in the low concentration limit. The methodology is applied to an athermal copolymer model where A blocks are ideal (theta solvent), B blocks self-avoiding (good solvent), while A and B blocks are mutually avoiding. The model leads to aggregation into polydisperse spherical micelles beyond a critical micellar concentration determined by Monte Carlo simulations for several size ratios f of the two blocks. The simulations also provide accurate estimates of the osmotic pressure and of the free energy of the copolymer solutions over a wide range of concentrations. The mean micellar aggregation numbers are found to be significantly lower than those predicted by an earlier, minimal two-blob representation (Capone et al 2009 J. Phys. Chem. B 113 3629).
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Capone
- Computational Physics, University of Vienna, Wien, Austria
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Zheng F, Zhang X, Wang W. Comment on Monte Carlo simulation of surfactant adsorption on hydrophilic surfaces. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2009; 25:7766-7767. [PMID: 19522531 DOI: 10.1021/la901283k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Fengxian Zheng
- Division of Molecular and Materials Simulation, Key Laboratory for Nanomaterials, Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
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Capone B, Pierleoni C, Hansen JP, Krakoviack V. Entropic Self-Assembly of Diblock Copolymers into Disordered and Ordered Micellar Phases. J Phys Chem B 2008; 113:3629-38. [DOI: 10.1021/jp805946z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Capone
- University Chemical Laboratory, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom, CNISM and Physics Department, University of L’Aquila, I-67010 L’Aquila, Italy, and Laboratoire de Chimie, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France
| | - Carlo Pierleoni
- University Chemical Laboratory, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom, CNISM and Physics Department, University of L’Aquila, I-67010 L’Aquila, Italy, and Laboratoire de Chimie, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France
| | - Jean-Pierre Hansen
- University Chemical Laboratory, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom, CNISM and Physics Department, University of L’Aquila, I-67010 L’Aquila, Italy, and Laboratoire de Chimie, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France
| | - Vincent Krakoviack
- University Chemical Laboratory, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom, CNISM and Physics Department, University of L’Aquila, I-67010 L’Aquila, Italy, and Laboratoire de Chimie, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France
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Seitz ME, Burghardt WR, Faber KT, Shull KR. Self-Assembly and Stress Relaxation in Acrylic Triblock Copolymer Gels. Macromolecules 2007. [DOI: 10.1021/ma061993+] [Citation(s) in RCA: 131] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Ortiz V, Nielsen SO, Klein ML, Discher DE. Computer simulation of aqueous block copolymer assemblies: Length scales and methods. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2006. [DOI: 10.1002/polb.20836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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